Actor Kang Dong Won Complete Profile, Movies, TV Show, Facts and TMI

Kang Dong Won Profile

Birth Name: 강동원 (Kang Dong Won)
Stage Name: Kang Dong Won
Nationality: South Korean
Date of Birth: 1981.01.18
Zodiac Sign: Capricorn
Chinese Zodiac: Monkey
Height: 186 cm (6’1″)
Weight: 66 kg (145.5 lbs)
Blood Type: B
Agency: YG Entertainment
Personal Social Media: Daum Fancafe

Kang Dong Won Facts & TMI

Kang Dong Won was born and raised in Busan.
His family consists of mother, father Kang Cheol Woo, and an elder sister Kang Hyeon Joo.
His father Kang Cheol Woo was the vice president at SPP Shipbuilding Co., LTD before the company went bankrupt in 2019.
Although his family is Catholic, Kang Dong Won revealed that he doesn’t have a religion.
Along with Jang Dong Gun, Jung Woo Sung, and Go Soo, Kang Dong Won became the standard of handsome “flower boy” in the Korean entertainment industry since the early 2000s.
With his tall height and slender body, Kang Dong Won debuted as a fashion model.
He is 186 cm tall and has 112 cm long legs.
Kang Dong Won has uneven eyes, one eye has a double eyelid and the other has a soft inner double eyelid.
Kang Dong Won received criticism due to his somewhat awkward acting in the early days of his debut.
Thanks to his silent efforts and steady improvement, his acting ability is now recognized by the public.
He has been steadily releasing 1 or 2 movies every year (except when he served in the army).
He said in an interview that he was trying to reduce his appearance in advertisements and that he was happiest when he did what he wanted to do, not when he earned money from advertising.
He has played a wide variety of characters that rarely overlap with the characters he played in the past.
He says he doesn’t like portraying the same roles.
In a survey conducted by CGV Research Center in 2016, out of 1,011 audiences 28.2% would watch the movie starring Kang Dong Won. He ranked 2nd on the survey, proving his ticket power in the South Korean film industry.
It is said that young Kang Dong Won lived in poverty and he has to earn money by doing modeling gigs.
He has always been a bright student, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Hanyang University and a master’s degree in Film from Sangmyung University.
When he was in middle school, he was very good at studying and he ranked second in the entire school.
Young Kang Dong Won really loves playing soccer that his skin became tanned.
During his school days, he aspired to be a soccer player. He also joined the soccer club in Geochang High School.
When Kang Dong Won was in the second year of college, he was cast on the subway and began his modeling career.
According to his model best friend Bae Jung Nam, Kang Dong Won had a hard time adjusting himself to college life and he had to work part-time in a golf course to earn his tuition fee.
He was South Korea’s top model during the early 2000s.
Kang Dong Won was the first Korean model to stand in Paris Pret-a-Porter. He was also invited to Prada Runway but refused because he was already preparing to become an actor at that time.
He was the muse of the Korean famous designer Woo Youngmi.
The legendary umbrella scene from the film ‘Temptation of Wolves’ became one of the famous memes in South Korea. In an episode of MMTG interview with JaeJae, Kang Dong Won revealed that although the meme was shown and used everywhere, he didn’t receive any royalty from it.
He made an acting debut in a 2003 drama titled ‘Country Princess’ as the second male lead Min Jin Woo.
The last drama he starred in was ‘Magic’ in 2004.
He only starred in 3 drama projects throughout his career.
He is a fluent English speaker.
He rarely appears in variety shows.
Kang Dong Won has shot more than 20 commercials throughout his career including LG, Sharp, Uniqlo, and Adidas.
He was involved in a controversy regarding the ancestry from his mother side, it is known that his maternal grandfather sided with the Japanese during Japanese occupation in Korea. Kang Dong Won addressed this controversy and released his apology letter through his agency YG Entertainment.
Kang Dong Won was rumored to be dating actress Han Hyo Joo as both spotted shopping together in the US.
Kang Dong Won’s cousin married Gong Yoo‘s cousin, making them distant relatives.
Kang Dong Won’s MBTI personality type is INTJ.
Among his nickname are Kang Chamchi and Chamchi Oppa (his name “Dong Won” is identical to the famous canned tuna brand Dongwon Chamchi, while chamchi or 참치 means “tuna” in Korean).
He seems to be enjoying Britpop as he sang a song from English singer Damien Rice in his vlog and recommended a song from Arctic Monkeys in a radio show.
He joined a celebrity baseball team called Playboy in the past.
Except when filming, he speaks in Busan dialects in everyday life.
He starred in numerous music videos for singer Joo Hyung Jin who was also his high school friend.
He is known as an actor who never exposes his private life, that’s why he doesn’t do SNS.
With his legendary flower boy title, Kang Dong Won was mentioned by a lot of female celebrities including SNSD’s Taeyeon and Seohyun, Suzy, and Hyorin as their ideal type
Kang Dong Won is quite an otaku, he likes reading ‘Vagabond’ and ‘One Piece’. He also collects Gundam plastic models.
During his early career, it was revealed that he had a model girlfriend that he had dated for 6 years before breaking up.
As a native of Busan, he naturally grows to like pork soup and wheat noodles.
He is famous for looking younger than his actual age.
He is a supporter of AC Milan.
He belongs to Jinju Kang clan.
He has poor eyesight.
Kang Dong Won served as a public service worker for his military duty from November 18th, 2010, to November 12th, 2012.

Movie

‘Too Beautiful to Lie’ as Choi Hee Cheol (2004)
‘Temptation of Wolves’ as Jeong Tae Seong (2004)
‘Duelist’ as Sad Eyes (2005)
‘Maundy Thursday’ as Jeong Yun Soo (2006)
‘Voice of a Murderer’ as Kidnapper (2007/ Voice appearance)
‘M’ as Han Min Woo (2007)
‘Jeon Woo Chi: The Taoist Wizard’ as Jeon Woo Chi (2009)
‘Secret Reunion’ as Song Jee Won (2010)
‘Haunters’ as Cho In (2010)
‘Camellia’ as Jay (2011/ Segment: “Love for Sale”)
‘The X’ as X (2013/ Short film)
‘Kundo: Age of the Rampant’ as Jo Yoon (2014)
‘My Brilliant Life’ as Dae Su (2014)
‘The Priests’ as Deacon Choi (2014)
‘A Violent Prosecutor’ as Han Chi Won (2015)
‘Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned’ as adult Sung Min (2016)
‘Master’ as Kim Jae Myung (2016)
‘1987: When the Day Comes’ as Yi Han Yeol (2017/ Special appearance)
‘Golden Slumber’ as Kim Gun Woo (2018)
‘Illang: The Wolf Brigade’ as Im Joong Kyung (2018)
‘Peninsula’ as Jeong Seok (2020)
‘Tsunami LA’ (TBA/ Hollywood film debut)
‘Broker’ (TBA)
‘The Incident’ as Brain (TBA)

TV Series

‘Country Princess’ as Min Ji Hoon (MBC/ 2003)
‘Something About 1%’ as Lee Jae In (MBC/ 2003)
‘Magic’ as Cha Gang Jae (2004/ SBS)

Variety Show

‘전파견문룩 (Jeonpagyeonmoonrook)’ (MBC/ 2004/ Guest)
‘Happy Together 1’ (KBS2/ 2004/ Guest)
‘Brain Survivor’ (MBC/ 2004/ Guest)
‘Come to Play’ (MBC/ 2004/ Guest)
‘YaSimManMan’ (SBS/ 2004/ Guest)
‘Beautiful Encounter’ (KBS2/ 2004/ Guest)
‘한미일 마술대격돌 (Hanmi-il Masul Daegyeokdol)’ (SBS/ 2005/ Guest)
‘JTBC Newsroom’ (JTBC/ 2015/ Interview guest)

MV

‘Light’ by J.ae (2001)
‘It Rains’ by Jung Chul aka LINK (2001)
‘I Swear’ by Jo Sung Mo (2001)
‘Let’s Break Up’ by Joo Hyung Jin (2010)
‘Telling A Secret’ by Joo Hyung Jin (2016)
‘Rest’ by Joo Hyung Jin (2019)

Discography

‘Shadow’ (2005/ Featured in closing credits of Duelist, duet with Ha Ji Won)
‘Love Song’ (2005/ Featured in closing credits of Duelist, duet with Ha Ji Won)
‘Victimae paschali laudes (Deacon Choi version)’ (2015/ The Priests OST)
‘A Hidden Path’ (2017/ 1987: When the Day Comes OST, duet with Kim Tae Ri)
‘Cheer Up’ (2018/ Golden Slumber OST, with Kim Sung Kyun, Kim Dae Myung, and Shin Hae Chul)